


Happy New Year

by JenniferLourhane



Category: His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (2007)
Genre: Cute, Mommy Issues, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Motherhood, New Year's Eve, angust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28646316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenniferLourhane/pseuds/JenniferLourhane
Summary: Fireworks shine in the london sky as two people realize exactly where they want to be in the years to come.What if Mrs.Coulter and Lyra spent the New Years together?
Relationships: Lyra Belacqua & Marisa Coulter
Comments: 15
Kudos: 47





	Happy New Year

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! that idea crossed my mind with the arrival of the new year and i realized it was something i needed to write. English is not my first language, I'm sorry if you find any grammatical mistakes.

Lyra Belacqua never went to many parties, the only ones she witnessed were those from Jodan College, where she was hidden under a table strategically positioned next to the treats, she couldn't attend these parties, no girl could. But of course, Lyra wasn't just any girl, she always managed to infiltrate any place that, in short, was forbidden for her.  
Living with Mrs.Coulter was basically living in a world full of soft smells, bright lights and partying with well-educated people wearing clothes as polished as their own dull personalities. Very similar to Jordan's professors, except for the air of extreme magnificence and wealth that the elders didn’t exude.  
The luxurious apartment was a mess, several maids with fancy dishes and gold cutlery were pacing up and down, a buffet spread out in the dining room with the most ornate and strange food Lyra had ever seen, nothing there seemed very appetizing her taste, the girl quickly learned that foods like this were expensive for their aesthetics, not for their taste.  
It isn’t new to Lyra that Mrs.Coulter was preparing one of her parties, which the girl spent hours taking notes of the things the woman wanted in her notebook with bad handwriting. Lyra was already used to the extravagance of the older brunette's requests, and in a way, she loved to see Mrs.Coulter pacing up and down excitedly about the preparations, making hand gestures and occasionally widening her eyes with a new idea, over time, Lyra learned the woman's tastes and wanted nothing more than to make her happy.  
But now, with all those people in the apartment and Mrs.Coulter out of sight, the girl felt a little suffocated, not only by the strange faces, but also by the reason of the party in question. Mrs.Coulter decided to have a new year party to celebrate with some close friends.  
Pan had been impatient all day, he hated days like this, when they couldn't venture out on the porch or play inside the room with the mountain of pillows on Lyra's bed when Mrs.Coulter went out to settle her private business.  
His impatience mixed with Lyra's anxiety wasn’t doing the pair any good.  
\- I hate these people here! - The daemon spoke when Lyra hid in one of the bathrooms.  
“I know, Pan ... but you know it's always like this ...”She spoke absently looking in the mirror.  
Pan tilted his head, feeling the conflict build up inside the girl's mind. Jumping to the sink and putting his front paws in Lyra's hands, he asked:  
“You're like this because of the new year, aren't you?”He stroked the girl's hand.  
Lyra sighed slowly, she had mixed emotions running through her chest since Mrs. Coulter announced her celebratory plans, the girl was surprised that she didn't even notice the time passing.  
A lot has happened in the past two months, which seemed like two years, Lyra couldn't be more discouraged.  
She always spent New Year's Eve sleeping, Mrs. Lonsdale was pretty strict about it, except for last year, when her best friend Roger came into her room at 11:40 pm on December 31th with two glasses of chocolate mousse served earlier that night, and pulled her onto the rooftops of Jordan College, together, the two of them admired the fireworks shining on the horizon with great satisfaction.  
Lyra's chest tightened at the memory.  
“I wish Roger was here ...” The girl admitted.  
"Me too," Pan agreed, tilting his head to the girl's hand.  
“He would love to see the fireworks so close! Mrs. Coulter hired some people to release them when midnight comes. ”Lyra let out an emotional giggle, which soon faded at the thought of her dear friend.  
“Don't worry, soon he will be with us! She promised that she would find him” Pan turned into a red panda and dove into Lyra's arms.  
He doubted Mrs. Coulter’s words, and despised the woman's monkey daemon, but Pan knew that his opinion wouldn’t comfort his other half at all.  
The ghost of a smile graced the girl's face, Lyra suddenly felt hopeful (even though she knew Pan's disgust for the woman) and a little nervous for tonight, she didn't know how adults celebrated the new year, the date was never very important to her, and not very meaningful, in fact, she just felt that the year had passed when her uncle Asriel came to visit her, an act that was annual.  
Her thoughts were interrupted by two beats on the door and then a soft, melodic and sweet voice came through the cracks of the door, a voice that Lyra grew to love and adore each day.  
"Lyra? Are you there? " Mrs. Coulter called. The girl cleaned some tears she didn’t know it had fallen, sighed, and then turned the golden handle.  
Mrs. Coulter was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful thing Lyra had seen in life, her pretty facial traits were covered by a discreet makeup, although Lyra thinks that the woman didn’t need any makeup, she wears a white dress of dycla which it grabs her thin waist well and favors the bust's vision, a part of Marisa’s hair fall freely on her shoulder, the girl blushes with the vision of the woman and wishes to be as beautiful as Marisa one day.  
"Oh, Lyra! There are you! I looked for you everywhere! " The woman looked genuinely worried.  
"Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom" Lyra lied, what would Mrs. Coulter think if she saw her crying ?! She wanted to be strong! Just like her uncle Asriel!  
“And look at you! You’re not ready yet. ”The woman raised her hands to her hips and shook her head, looking disapprovingly at the girl's purple dress.  
Lyra didn’t know where the problem was, this dress was, by far, one of the most beautiful things she had ever worn compared to her second hand dresses hanging on the hangers of Jordan college, besides, she was going to spend the night serving champagne , why should her be so tidy?!  
“Because we are the pet” pantalaimon thought with dissatisfaction.  
Lyra decided to ignore him.  
"But the party hasn't started yet, Mrs. Coulter" The girl replied without paying attention to the woman's frustrated face.  
"Lyra, we are the hostesses, we must be ready before everyone else in order to receive them" The woman said impatiently "Come with me, I will fix it".  
Marisa grabbed Lyra's hand and directed her to the girl's room.  
As soon as they arrived, Marisa asked Lyra to sit on the bed while she picked up the new dress she ordered for tonight.  
"Here it is! Look how beautiful! It will look perfect on you! Come, get up and come to the mirror ”Mrs. Coulter was holding a white dress, the same model as the one she wore, but without the neckline and sensual cut on the skirt.  
Lyra tried not to make a face at it, but her forced smile betrayed her.  
Lyra stopped in front of the woman and she helped her unbutton the purple dress and then adjust the straps of the white dress around her body when Lyra put it on.  
"Look how beautiful you are!" Mrs. Coulter praised with pride that Lyra would only be able to understand a few weeks later.  
With the two reflected in the mirror, the girl was startled when she noticed the frightening resemblance between her and the older woman.  
"You are more beautiful than her," said a beetle-shaped pan in her ear. The daemon's voice was full of disdain.  
Lyra disagreed avidly, but said nothing, just appreciated the compliment, as she doesn’t remember having received any before living with Mrs. Coulter, especially not about her appearance.

"Why do we wear white for the New Years, Mrs. Coulter?" Lyra asked innocently.  
She had never seen the woman with colors less than strong or flashy, white was certainly none of those colors.  
"It's a superstition, they say it brings good energy for the next year" The woman pulled Lyra away from the mirror to the dressing table "Come, sit here, it will be easier for me to do something with your hair"  
Marisa sat on the dresser and patted her thighs so Lyra could sit on her lap. The girl a little ashamed but also starved for physical contact, obeyed the woman and sat on her legs.  
The embarrassment soon disappeared when the feeling of pure contentment and comfort filled the child's heart, after so many months in the woman's presence, moments like this were still strange to her, where she needs to act like a normal child and let herself be cared for as such, instead of acting like the gyptian boat thief who scampered around Oxford.  
"This is silly," Lyra says, remembering the answer to her question, but soon regrets it for fear of upsetting the woman.  
To her surprise, Marisa laughed softly.  
“You’re right” Marisa smiles and runs her fingers through the girl's dark locks “But sometimes it can work, it's all about… perspective”.  
Lyra thought of the woman's words, still not understanding their meaning.  
"Perspective? What is that, Mrs. Coulter? ” Lyra frowns in confusion.  
"It's how you look at a situation, if something worked once, it can work again, if it didn't, you decide whether to try or not, that's perspective" Marisa explains patiently.  
The woman takes the brush and slides it through the girl's hair, separating it into three strands full of hair.  
"Hum ... so did you wear white last year?" The girl is curious and tries to turn around to look at the other brunette correctly.  
Marisa stops her movements with her hands and looks at the girl.  
"Yes" The woman replies.  
"And it worked?"  
"You are here, aren't you ?!" Tears shine in the corner of Mrs. Coulter's eyes when she responds.  
Lyra was shocked by the words, an unknown emotion tingled in her stomach and she felt tears behind her eyes, the girl wanted nothing more than to save this moment forever.  
Nobody ever said words like that to her, never put her to bed or read stories, nobody praised or noticed her, and Lyra always thought she was okay with that, she never really cared about things like that, but now, after having all those things, she can't imagine a life without her wanting Mrs. Coulter’s blue eyes looking at her as if she were the most perfect thing in the world.  
Even pan, which was sitting at the foot of the chair in its ermine shape, gave in to the calloused touch of the golden monkey.  
Lyra couldn't say anything, she just leaned over and kissed Mrs. Coulter's soft cheek.  
As soon as Lyra walked away, she noticed the shock on the woman's face and was soon worried that she had gone too far.  
"Sorry, Mrs. Coulter! I ..." The girl starts to despair.  
"Oh, no! You didn't do anything wrong!" Marisa wakes up after a few moments and quickly wipes the tears from her eyes with a smile and a laugh that calmed Lyra's heart.  
The girl calmed down and smiled shyly at the woman.  
"Now ... let's go back to your braid!" Marisa returns to hold the brush and Lyra returns to her old position in the woman's lap "So, do you want a side braid or do you want me to tie your hair up?" 

The guests arrived after 7:30 pm, each wearing fancy clothes, jewelry and expensive shoes, Lyra had to smile at them all and let Mrs. Coulter's noisy friends squeeze her cheeks, Pan was impatient on her shoulder and once while fleeing the sticky deamons of the ladies of charity.  
Mrs. Coulter seemed to sparkle among people, she greeted them, smiled, praised them and made them so comfortable that it seemed as if the woman was putting them under a spell.  
Lyra frowned as she stared, she was a few inches away from Mrs. Coulter, the woman never let her out of her side.  
"I thought we would serve the drinks" Pan whispers in his butterfly shape.  
"Yeah, me too! But she didn't ask me to do anything! Not even taking notes or anything, not even checking the guest list!" Lyra whispers back to the daemon in frustration "Do you think she doesn't need us anymore, Pan?"  
Before Pan could reply, an elegant man with bright blue eyes and dark hair comes towards the girl accompanied by Mrs. Coulter, the woman seemed anything but happy.  
"Then you must be the famous Lyra" He said in a low voice, his daemon is a snowy owl and is perched on the man's shoulder.  
Lyra, already used to all polite lengths, smiled a polite smile.  
"I don't think I'm famous, Mr..."  
"Delamare, Marcel Delamare" The man introduces himself and slightly adjusts his glasses on his face "Oh, you are! You really impressed my sister and if I’m honest, this is really a rare thing to happen".  
Lyra was confused by the statement, but then she noticed the forced smile on Mrs. Coulter's face, the smile she makes when an old politician wanders or when the ladies of charity talk about subjects they themselves don't know, the smile that makes her lips come together perfectly but her eyes scream nothing but murderous violence.  
"Your sister?" Lyra tilts her head a little. "Are you Mrs. Coulter's brother?"  
"And you’re very smart too! You mustn’t have noticed by our appearance, we are quite different" He laughs and puts his hand in the elegant pocket.  
Lyra didn't agree with that, they both had the same blue eyes, the same thin lips and the same air of superiority that no one here had, but Mrs. Coulter.  
"It's a pleasure, Mr. Delamare" Lyra extends her hand, thinking it’s the right thing to do.  
Lyra never thought that Mrs. Coulter would have a family, she always saw her as a natural person, just a lonely, extremely beautiful and intelligent widow who needed an assistant.  
To Lyra, there was no one who seemed to fit perfectly with the woman, as if anything beside her seemed insignificant.  
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you" He shakes the girl's hand and looks at her with a look that Lyra can't describe "You must be very proud, sis"  
Marisa, who was analyzing the meeting from a distance, came over and placed both hands on Lyra's shoulders, pulling her away from Marcel's hand.  
"Sure" Says and then opens a metallic smile full of white teeth.  
The tension between the two weighed in the air, it was almost paupable for the child between them, but that only lasted a few seconds before Marcel walked away, apparently Mrs. Coulter had won the secret war of glances between them.  
"I'm going to find my date, she must be waiting for me in the living room" He says with a charming smile "Happy New Year to you".  
And then he left as subtly as he arrived, although his daemon continued to exchange sharp looks between Mrs. Coulter's monkey.  
"He looks cool" Lyra shrugs and turns to face Mrs. Coulter.  
Marisa blinked away from the man and smiled at the little girl.  
"I ordered that dessert you liked at our lunch at the Arctic Institute, it's on the candy table in the hall" The woman bends down to the girl's eye level and smirks.  
“Oh! The one with the difficult name ?! ” Lyra asks, completely forgetting that she has just met Mrs. Coulter's brother.  
“It’s Cranachan, dear” The brunette informs with a light chuckle “Go over there and get just two glasses of it, okay? There's a lot of sugar in it and I want you to be able to stay until midnight, but not after that”  
"Am I going to stay up until midnight ?!" Lyra's eyes widen and she can barely keep her feet still.

"Only today because it’s a special day, the other 364 days of the year you will sleep at the right time, Do you understand Lyra?" The woman speaks in a stern tone, but with a certain kind of kindness.  
"Yes, Mrs. Coulter" Lyra responds smiling angelically.  
"Great" Marisa turned away from the girl and regained we composure "Now I have to entertain some of our guests, and who knows what kind of boring stories Dr. Portman must be telling" The woman laughs and shakes her head.  
“Like the one about the magic bunion and the tartar? This one is awful ”Lyra accompanies the woman's laugh.  
The girl clearly remembers the day she talked to old George Portman, a explorer, and spent minutes (which seemed like hours) listening to how he killed a tartar pretending to have a magic bunion, Lyra doesn't know how it happened and the man never gave her details.  
"Yes" Marisa agrees "But he was a very famous explorer in the subject I work, so I have to try to entertain him too, now, be a good girl and always ..."  
"Smile," Lyra added to her.  
The woman leaned over and kissed Lyra's forehead.  
"That’s my girl" Mrs. Coulter speaks and then walks to the dining room.  
Lyra watches as she walks away, Pan is on her shoulder in her squirrel shape.  
"You're not just going to get two glasses of that dessert, are you, Lyra?" The daemon asks when he realizes where the girl's thoughts are turning.  
"Of course not" She replies boldly.

Lyra had spent half the night running away from annoying women who treated her like a pet and the other half the girl spent emptying the candy porch with Pan turning into a mouse and carrying the candy she couldn't reach, she isn't sure how many she ate but a few minutes after she put one of the candies in her mouth, a rush of sugar energized her body and in moments Lyra found herself climbing the fire escape in her room and going to the roof.  
"The view from here is beautiful, Pan!" Lyra screams on the roof as she faces the bright lights of London.  
"Yes, it is" The daemon, who now flew like a bat around Lyra's head, agrees.  
"How many people do you think live here, Pan?" Lyra sits on the roof and holds her knees under her chin.  
"I don't know, Lyra ... I think there are enough people to occupy the entire campus of Jordan College, until there’s no room left for anyone to fit" He says convinced of his answer.  
Lyra laughs as she imagines people coming out of all the windows and doors of the college, as if they were a burning volcano.  
A minute of silence passed between the two while admiring the beautiful landscape.  
“I wish Roger was here” She speaks the sentence for the second time that day.  
The child feels the sugar drain from her body, being replaced by a new wave of sadness.  
Pan says nothing, just changes his shape to a wildcat and then lies down on the girl's legs.  
"I wish Uncle Asriel was here," she adds belatedly, as if she thinks it’s the right thing to say, even though she doesn't know the man. After all, he was the only family she knew.  
"He's not our only family, Lyra" Pan intervenes when he hears the brunette's thoughts.  
"What?" The girl asks in confusion.  
"We have Mrs. Coulter" The daemon says reluctantly.  
"But you don't like her" The girl argues.  
“I don't trust her, it's different” Pan shakes his furry head and throws himself lazily on Lyra's lap.  
"She's been good to us" Lyra smiles as she thinks of the times Mrs. Coulter massaged her hair in the bath or stroked her cheek.  
"We are not alone" Pan licks the girl's face trying to comfort her.  
Lyra smiles and strokes his fluffy fur, then she hears a huge commotion in the apartment below her.  
"I think it's time to get down," Lyra says, following up to the fire escape.  
"Do you think?!" Pan asks ironically.  
Lyra came down from the roof, passed her room and quietly mingled with the other guests in the hall, then saw that they were walking up to the balcony.  
She moved through the crowd hurriedly, muttering absent-minded apologies as she went, Lyra passed people's bodies until she was in the front row of people on the porch.  
The girl soon saw Mrs. Coulter, who was holding a glass of champagne and looked relieved when she spotted Lyra among the guests.  
The woman cleared her throat slightly and with the usual smile she subtly taps the glass of the cup, although she didn't need it since it was impossible not to look at the brunette.  
“First of all I would like to thank the authority for providing us with this moment and also to thank everyone who is here tonight, I hope you know how happy I am to welcome you to my home and how important you are to me” The sweet voice infiltrates the night and enchants everyone who hears it “This was a year of many achievements for me, besides being a year full of challenges, but nothing that the Authority cannot help me deal with” the woman smiles and everyone agrees.  
"Is this speech going to take too long?" Pan asks impatiently.  
"Shut up, Pan" Lyra scolds, she was enchanted by the woman as the others.  
“I couldn't help but be pleased, pleased for the moments I have lived and prospered, some of them alongside people who are here, and thank you for the good friends I made” She continues politely “But mainly, this was the year I learned that it isn’t too late to get back what you want, the things it's worth fighting for, the things that you really love, and I learned that every effort will be worth it day after day, even if something doesn't go as planned, because you know you have a purpose or someone waiting for you”  
The last part, Mrs. Coulter speaks looking directly into Lyra's dark eyes.  
"Do you think she ... is talking about us ?!" Lyra whispers to Pan. The girl has teary eyes.  
"Maybe" He replies.  
“Anyway, I hope that your year was as wonderful as mine and that the next one will bring us much prosperity” She lifted the cup and everyone clapped and praised the woman from afar “According to my watch, there are only three minutes until the year is over, the seconds will be counted down on the screen to your left and then fireworks will light up the sky, feel comfortable and enjoy the last minutes of that year ”.  
Another wave of applause followed the woman as she left the front and mingled with some guests, shaking hands with those who praised her for her speech.  
But the brunette was very quick and she managed to get rid of everyone politely and then make her way to Lyra.  
"What did you think? I don't want to look like a fool ”Mrs. Coulter speaks as soon as she arrives at Lyra's side.  
"You were extraordinary" Lyra speaks with total devotion.  
"Well, if you say so..." Mrs. Coulter winked at her "Where were you? I didn't see you a part of the night, I hope you behaved ”  
The woman places a hand on the top of the girl's head and slides the tip of her thumb down to Lyra's chin, lifting it so that her eyes are fixed on each other.  
"Just taking a walk ... and admiring the view from up here" It was half true, but Lyra didn't know if Mrs. Coulter would be mad to know she was on the roof.  
“Well, tell me where did you find such a wonderful view! It must be great to see the fireworks over there! I don't know about you, but I don't want to stay here ... ”The brunette looks around and smiles as if she is sharing a secret with Lyra.  
The girl blushes and looks at the screen where the seconds passed, there were only 2 minutes left for the end of the year.  
"Come with me!" Lyra grabs Mrs. Coulter's hand and pulls her into the house, Pan and the golden monkey right behind them.  
The woman is silent until they reach Lyra's room.  
"Your bedroom? I didn't know you had such a good view here”Marisa says curiously.  
"Oh, it's not here!" Lyra laughs.  
“Are you sure you are going to do this, Lyra? We can get in trouble, ”Pan thinks.  
"I don't care" She replies.  
"Lyra?" Marisa calls after seeing that the girl seemed lost in thought.  
"You will have to trust me" The girl looks at the woman who frowns in response.  
"What?" Marisa asks confused.  
"Take off your shoes, it's better to climb!" Lyra says as she takes off her beautiful polished shoes.  
"Climb? Lyra, did you go up on the roof? ” Mrs. Coulter puts her hands on her hips.  
"Just a minute left" is all Lyra says to make the woman sigh and start taking off her high heels.  
In thirty seconds, the two made their way to the roof and sat in the place where Lyra and Pan had occupied an hour ago.  
"You were right, it's a beautiful view" Mrs. Coulter shone in the moonlight and her dark hair fell freely over her shoulders, the woman's blue eyes admired the landscape.  
"I told you so" Lyra laughs proudly.  
"But don't think we are not going to talk about you coming up here, it’s very dangerous and you could have ..."  
But Marisa was unable to finish her sermon because down there people were counting the seconds down.  
"3" They screamed.  
Marisa pulls Lyra to her side and completely forgets what she was saying.  
"2" They keep counting.  
Lyra leans her head against the woman's chest and drowns in the warmth of Mrs. Coulter's arms.  
"1" They finish counting.  
It didn't take long for a shower of fireworks to light up the London sky, enchanting everyone who celebrated below without noticing the woman and child dressed in white on top of the roof, one wrapped in the other's arms, making the same wishes and thanking for the same things, because they were no longer alone, they belonged to each other and there was nothing in the world that could dispute that, both of their daemons were in a position very similar to theirs.  
"Happy New Year, Lyra" Marisa whispers with eyes full of tears and then kisses the girl's forehead.  
"Happy New Year" The child responds and then wraps her arm further around the woman's waist.  
Lyra didn't know what the next year was going to be like, nor the year after that, but she knew that every year she wanted to spend the same way she is now.  
Embraced by the woman who wanted nothing more than Lyra for the new year.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the ones who helped me to translate this❤️


End file.
